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Residency
So, how much does your rent cost you a month? And what, exactly, do you wear to market? And so, what is the current news of the day in Phaeselis? Yes, you can answer these questions in your modern life, but what about your character's life in Phaeselis? After all the answers do seem that much more fleeting. This chapter, or page, reveals what life is like in the City of Psionics. At least for the simple middle class resident who is married and with a small family. This explores issues of gender, home, work, religion, and the cost of living. So the chapter is written in the second person, so you can see what life is like in the city. Where you live? You most probably live in a two story house if you are of the lower middle class within the Hellenistic district of Laughing Brook or gélio rév̱ma. Within the phoenician and Archaemeniad quadrants, where the population is tightly packed, in an apartment building with a two room flat. Within the Vedic Quadrant, you live in a beautiful, but slum house of Indian design (except in the neighborhoods of Kharagōśa Khōkhalē, Phŏlsa Painōramā, and Pyāra kā Dila Gānva). Some of the housing in the Southeast Quadrant are undergoing an Urban renewal project as many of the old tenaments are destroyed and new Hellenistic styled homes are going up. Your house will be built of brick, stone, or wood and would look very plain. Except for the Qin'ae influence in some of the more upscale neighborhoods. Your house would be built around a courtyard, and you would not sleep with your spouse. The women and the men would be split in the household and generally lived separate lives. Although it seems strange, you are probably wondering if they had any time to do the horizontal mamba. The women, your wife and daughters, congregated into the Gynaeceum. Here, your wife would have spun and weaved for you (or if you are a woman). The men would congregate in the Andron, where the men would throw a symposium (party). Because of this, you have many couches. your house has many windows for you to use. Mostly to bring in light in the bedrooms, the gynaeceum, the andron, and the bathroom and kitchen. The doors to your courtyard and your home have simple locks (Open Lock, DC 15). You need to draw water from the local stream to have any water, or in a neighborhood without access to a tributary stream, use a canal. You drain your water down into the sewer system. Your sewer access has a cover that keeps out unwanted odors and rats. Your furniture is made of wood and cloth, and handmade. Even the couches, with their pillows and padding, is handmade. Some of it has nice decorative work, while other pieces are simple and functional. You have a table or too, at least a chair for everyone in the household, and a bench or two in the courtyard. You have three fireplaces; two for warmth and one for cooking and baking. At night you sleep in your own bedroom away from your wife, although the wife may come in for some nighttime fun. Everyone has their own bedrooms, although it's divided between the boys and the girls. There is a bed for each of your family members. You decorate your house with frescos and mosaics. Mosiacs are on the floor of your Andron and Gynaeceum, and they tend to be simple and within your price range. Frescos are wall paintings that depict a scene you wish to remember. Aside from the frescos, your home is decorated with a shelf of curios and momentos. And, if you are a fighting man, you have your ridgid leather cuirass (the misnamed linothorax) hanging in your home as a decoration along with your hoplon, spear, and helmet in the Andron. If you are a particularly skilled bowman, your bow might decorate the mantlepiece above your fireplace and keep your armor in another room. You might have some tapestries and some statues in your house and courtyard. Next to the main door is a small shelf for keeping your house gifts. Literacy As a member of the lower middle class, you can read and write Koine Hellenic. At least simply and slowly. You own a few copies of books -- a holy book or two (depending on your religion), a primer for your children, and perhaps a book of rememberance and/or a small collection of poetry. Most of these are in scroll form, and made from papyrus. Most of your reading skills are used on the broadsheets that are published through out the city. Personal Belongings You have in your possession small ceramic dishes, some amphorae (which can be replenished with wine, olive oil, or other liquids), a number of wooden or ceramic jugs, some kitchen knives and other utensils, some wooden spoons, a few large iron pots, a washbasin, two basins, a ewer, a polished brass mirror, a comb, a brush, a sweat scraper (lat. strigilis), a wooden chest with maybe a lock, a wardrobe, many blankets, pillows, a number of barrels and crates -- which is mostly for storing food; a couple of buckets, a few rugs and tablecloths, some towels and rags, a quill pen and ink, a few pieces of papyrus paper, chalk and a slate, oil for your lamps, and at least a week's worth of food for your household. Entertainment and other Belongings If you have children, you own entertainments and toys for them. Also, you may have a musical instrument, a game or two (using dice, or perhaps Lemurias' version of Chess?). You own some simple tools: a mallet, an awl and chisel, a saw, a good knife or axe, and perhaps some tongs. You might own a dagger, but it's likely the only weapon you have is a club. Beautifying the Place The courtyard might have a fine carpet of grass, and you might have some boxes of soil in which to grow some plants, maybe herbs. If you own a yard, you can plant an herbal garden for yourself. You use some of the household waste as fertilizer. There is a hefty fine for throwing your trash and waste out the window, so you dump it down into the sewer system, which empties into the river. The pipes do get clogged, and its your responsibility to clean them. What You Wear As a low middle classman of Phaeselis, what you wear depends on your occupation and where you live in Phaeselis. If you are a man or a woman of the Hellenic disposition you will typically wear the himation or combine it with the chiton. If you are a young man or woman, or even a child, you wear a short chiton. If you are a laborer, your short chiton would be made of roughly spun cloth (either flax, cotton, or wool). If you are of a higher class, your chiton and himation would be made of finer materials (silk and velvet, there is no nylon or lycra or other fine fabrics). You will also own a pair of sandals. When wind and rain strike the region, many people will don their chlamys cloaks. Some young men will be daring and just wear the chlamys cloak, a pair of sandals, and nothing else. If you are an athlete '''you will be expected to train at the gymnasium without nary a stitch. You are also expected to perform athletics clad in the sky as well. '''If you are a Gymnitos (as a mobile fighter or a nimble blade) you train naked or nearly naked specializing in attack avoidance rather than absorbing attacks. If you are a Hoplite ' (as a Phalanx Soldier or Armored Blade) then you own a breastplate or a ''linothorax, a helmet, a girdle, and greaves. You train in your armor and specialize in taking blows rather than avoiding them so you can get into close for killing your opponent. '''If you are one of the Aegoi (psionic Aegis class), you also train with little clothing, since you can manifest your armor for battle; and you train to take blows; inexplicably. If you are Aryavartan or Nagaji, '''then your clothing is divided between the sexes. '''If you are a woman '''then you are expected to wear the sari, or if one wishes, the mundum neriyathum. No one really cares if an Aryavartan woman of any class lay bare her breasts in public, especially if she is fair and good to look upon. The sari will be made of good, Aryavartan cotton. Finer sari are made of silk from the Middle Kingdom. '''Men would typically wear pajamas or sherwani. Young men would wear only the pajama bottoms, although some men of the Ksatriya caste have taken to wearing the chiton and the himation to copy the Hellenes. The younger Ksatriyas will typically wear the short chiton. If you are Phoenician, you typically don a linen undergarment and a woolen tunic that covered the body from the lower neck to well below the knees. Over this is draped a cloak or chalmys. You would also wear footgear, sandals. Belts are also common, to keep the cloak in place. Belts can be made of rope, leather, or cloth and are sometimes very decorated. Some Phoenicians also wear the chiton and himaton. The Ariyans prefer longer robes, and typically wear their clothes in the same style as the Phoenicians. As for hair. For men you usually keep your hair short or slightly long. Hellenes usually are clean shaven, while the Aryavartans prefer stylized moustaches and long hair. Archemeniad men also keep their hair short, and so do the Qin'ae men and the Hebrew men. Among the Phoenicians (hebrews), longer hair is creeping into vogue. All women keep their hair long and adorned. Sometimes, women tie their hair into attractive hairstyles. Braids are the rage among Hellene women these days, while the Aravartan women and Qin'ae women just keep their hair unbraided but tied to be manageable. Nudity in Phaeselis Due to certain rules for publishing with the Pathfinder Compatible Logo and the Wikia rules (I know, I violated them twice) . . . I can't really show how the Ancients viewed nudity. The Ancients approached nudity very differently than we do today, mostly because as knowledge of God and the Spirit is lost, so we tend to cover up, as the Archaeologists report. Phaeselis is no different, and the different attitudes of nudity is telling. The Hellenes believe that their acceptance of public nudity is one of the pillars that separates their culture from the barbarian (foreigner). It's not uncommon for a Hellene to go nude in public from time to time. Young children are often allowed to go nude or bare breasted until they are of age (about 10 to 12 years of age). Athletes also have license to go nude, especially when training in the Gymnasium or performing. Youth is worshipped, and the Hellenes themselves wear little clothing. Hellene art and sculpture frequently revealed the nude body, especially that of the man. The Hellenes also do not practice circumcision and believes the practice to be barbaric (foriegn). The Aryavartans and Nagaji '''are based on both the Vedic culture and the Golden Age of Hinduism, which the latter is about the same time as the Alexandrian conquest. the Aryavartans believe that barechestedness is afforded to all sexes of all ages. Women are allowed to bare their breasts in the heat. The '''Phoenicians '''are based on the Ancient Hebrews, basically before the time of Jesus. Unfortunately, details on the Ancient Hebrews and their regard to nudity is obscure due to modern society projecting our modern notions on to the Hebrews. However, it is clear that they bathed daily, and the fishermen would fish on the Sea of Galilee without clothing. There is also references to the Hebrews allowing young children to be naked while growing up until they are of age. In contrast, the '''Ariyans seem to vilify nudity. They need to cover up, and project shame, as they are based on ancient Persian culture. When conquered, the Hellenes' attitudes on the body seemed to be a strong culture shock. In fact, the Middle Kingdom is on the extreme end of body shame and covering up. As time continues to march forward, its unknown which way cultures will regard the naked body on Lemurias. How You Live See also: Gender in Phaeselis See Also: Hairstyles in Hellenistic Times See also: the Cost of Living See also: The food that you eat See also: Slavery in Phaeselis See also: The City in Which You Live See also: Arete See also: Xenia EltonJ (talk) 23:00, September 8, 2013 (UTC) Category:Living Category:Residence